Prayer canvases from around the country, including this one decorated by Watertown High School students, cover the Boston Common during Patriots Day weekend. The canvases were made in a response to the 2013 Marathon bombings.

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A few months ago, Michael Lahiff, the Watertown High athletic director, was contacted by a group in Florida that wanted to do something for the victims of the Boston Marathon bombing. The group contacted schools all over the country and asked to have students decorate and cover canvases.

Mr. Lahiff asked us to be in charge of getting two canvases covered in one week. So, we laid out the first canvas and got to work.

We e-mailed teachers, asking for them to bring their classes down and have their students decorate a square. The task seemed impossible, but, square by square, the canvas began to fill up.

Three days in, we had finished the first canvas and opened up the second canvas. When we opened it, we were shocked to find a canvas covered in the signatures from the New York Mets baseball team! Somehow, we were sent the Mets canvas instead of a blank canvas.

This ended up working to our advantage, because it gave us more time to perfect the original canvas. We wrote “Watertown Strong” down one of the edges and painted a finish line on the other end. We were extremely pleased with the final project.

A few days later, we went to the Boston Common to see all of the canvases displayed. It was amazing to see all of the schools that came together to support Boston. There were canvases signed by the House of Represent- atives and the Senate, one from every team in the Major League, and ones from schools all over. It was such a neat experience to be a part of, and seeing so many people come together to support Boston was something neither of us will ever forget.